Paragraph layout and when to start a new one?

Generally, one starts a new paragraph when they start a new topic. New topics can be new ideas, new locations, or new speakers. (The last one is why you see lots of new lines in dialogue--each time a new person speaks, zie gets a new line.)

The best way to get a feel for it is to read published fiction and ask yourself "why did the author start a new paragraph or new line here?"

Here's an example from Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants."

The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.

"What should we drink?" the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.

"It's pretty hot," the man said.

"Let's drink beer."

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The first paragraph is a location paragraph, so everything to do with the location is inside of it.

The next line is the first speaker, which covers her actions and dialogue.

When the speaker changes, you get the third line.

The fourth line is the girl again, so a new line.

Here's another example from Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder."

The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink over his stare, and the sign burned in this momentary darkness:

TIME SAFARI, INC.
SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.
YOU NAME THE ANIMAL.
WE TAKE YOU THERE.
YOU SHOOT IT.

Warm phlegm gathered in Eckels' throat; he swallowed and pushed it down. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile as he put his hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand waved a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk.

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First paragraph is what Eckles perceives.

Second is the the sign that was introduced in Paragraph One. The multiple lines represent the sign's typography.

Third paragraph is Eckles' reactions/actions.

And you can also break a paragraph in two if it's too long. 'Too long' is subjective and other folks' idea of 'too long' may not be the same as mine. For me, anything from seven to ten/twelve lines is a reasonable paragraph.

I would also prefer to see two or three paragraphs than a solid page block of narrative, but...

Reading a lot will soon help you create your own parameters. Don't go by what you see here- go by actual reading of books. First line of a new paragraph is always indented, but AW posts are not indented.

I can't say paragraphing is anything I think about much - it just happens.

My two cents on two subjects:

1. I recently read a manuscript with way too many one-sentence paragraphs, so a bit of grouping along the same topic is advisable as others have said.

2. When speakers change, we always need a new paragraph, but starting a new paragraph at every instance of dialog separating it from its indirect attributives is a misunderstanding of the "when speakers change" rule.

I realized after reading this thread that it's not something I ever really think about. To me, they're basically just chunks of sentences that are all related, but I'm not really consciously keeping track of it. Maybe, after years of reading, you just get a sense for what seems natural. I think if I was more conscious of it, my writing would suffer..

Next time you're walking around, try paying attention to how you're moving your legs and swinging your arms. Left foot out, right arm out, lean forward, right foot, right arm,etc. It'll start to feel pretty awkward.

I think of a paragraph break like a cut in a film, a new scene or perspective on a scene. I agree with Chase that you don't have to start a new paragraph with every bit of dialogue, so long as the whole paragraph is about the speaker. I've seen this done in published novels and it can be confusing, especially if there aren't enough dialogue tags. I blame the editor.

Chase said:

starting a new paragraph at every instance of dialog separating it from its indirect attributives is a misunderstanding of the "when speakers change" rule.

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Oh gosh yes. I ran across that somewhere, and it was so confusing, because the characters' actions were not kept with their dialogue, but put in separate paragraphs in between the dialogue. It was often difficult to tell which action was performed by which character. It was a mess.

You also should check out a good grammar/style site, the best one (IMO) being Purdue OWL:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/?

It is aimed primarily at more formal writing, as for student academics, but it has a wealth of useful information that applies to just about any kind of written material intended to communicate to a reader. That includes information on the use and construction of paragraphs.

caw